Then they subbed Ekpe Udoh in for Biedrins, which moved Lee to the five: suddenly they're smaller but A LOT quicker, and the tables start to subtly shift. They pick away at the lead throughout the 2nd quarter. In the third quarter, they play Biedrins again, and we start rolling again, but they take him out quickly. When they take him out, we're ahead by 8. They replace him with a SG, Brandon Rush, so now they're really small: Curry-Ellis-Rush-Wright-Lee. Our lead evaporates. They keep either Lee or Udoh at the 5 for the rest of the game with a quick/shooter 4, typically with a guard (Rush or Klay Thompson) at the 3. We get outplayed the rest of the game and never really challenge again. They were just so much quicker than us.
This is not the first example. This has been a HUGE problem all season, but I don't feel like anyone is talking about it. Obviously the FO hasn't made any moves to address it, but neither has Gentry. (Umm...maybe that shouldn't be a surprise since we know he's incompetent.)
- --If you're the FO, the solution is incredibly obvious, and has been for a long time: you need to trade for an athletic 4 who plays defense and move Frye to the 5.
--If you're Gentry, the solution is incredibly obvious, and has been for a long time: you need to go small when your team is getting out-quicked. We've been enormously successful with Dudley at the 4.